Deertrees Theatre
Encyclopedia
Deertrees Theatre is a performing arts
and cultural center located in Harrison
, Maine
, United States
. The theatre
was founded by the distinguished opera
director and singing coach Enrica Clay Dillon
in 1936 and is now owned and operated by the non profit Deertrees Foundation. As home to the Deertrees Theatre Festival, the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival, the Children's Wednesday Series, the BackStage Gallery, and the Salt Lick Cafe, Deertrees is one of the most active summer theatres
in the Northeast. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
and the Maine Register of Historic Places, it is sanctioned by the Actors' Equity Association
as "a small professional house."
by Harrison G. Wiseman and built by George Locke of Bridgton, the theatre was constructed of rose hemlock harvested on the property. The proscenium arch was made from whole tree trunks and the beams, doors, trim, and light fixtures were all handcarved. The building was designed so the entire auditorium with its pitched floor could be detached from the stage end and moved forward allowing an extra section with more seating inserted. It boasted a thirty-member orchestra pit
, stage dimensions identical to the Metropolitan Opera House
, and the best technical equipment of any theatre outside of New York. Two large barn doors located behind the stage could be opened for an authentic forest backdrop. Whether by chance or design, the theatre also had near perfect acoustics. More than sixty years after the theatre first opened, Christopher Hyde, classical music critic for the Maine Sunday Telegram, theorized that the tight sheathing of rough hemlock and pre-stressed posts and beams created the effect of a large stringed instrument able to transmit vibrations efficiently without echoes or reverberation.
by the classical actor, Walter Hampden
. Only two more productions were presented that summer but the following season Deertrees became a fixture on the straw hat circuit
by presenting four different plays
and a musical comedy with a cast of professional actor
s in repertory
under the direction of Ms. Dillon. However, in 1938 the theatre failed to open and when Deertrees reopened in the summer of 1939 it was under the auspices of the noted Broadway
producer Bela Blau
Advertising "A New Play - A New Broadway A Star Every Week." Blau imported an entire Broadway cast from New York City every week including such stars as Ethel Barrymore
, Talullah Bankhead, Edward Everett Horton
, Dame Mae Whittey, and Rudy Vallee
. A young David Merrick
was a jack-of-all-trades apprentice and credited on several playbill
s as being the associate producer and the then unpublished Helene Hanff
worked in the Box Office
. Local talent augmented smaller roles as the need arose. In addition to the theatre, Blau operated a school for theatrical designers
headed by Raoul Pene duBois.
Following the death of Bela Blau in the autumn of 1940, Ms Dillon returned to her first love, opera. She inaugurated The Deertrees Opera Company with the young Edwin McArthur
(later replaced by Karl Kritz
) as musical director and George Wells as scenic and lighting designer. The company consisted of some 12 to 15 young singers including Astrid Varnay
, Phila Tharpe, and Elizabeth Caron and was a forerunner to the great opera-training programs to come to America some fifty years later. The Deertrees Opera Company continued into the summer of 1942 but with the United States in the war, after a Red Cross/U.S.O Benefit concert on August 31, the theatre went dark. In 1946, Ms. Dillon announced the re-opening of Deertrees Theatre for a "Summer Festival of Opera and Drama;" however, by mid-summer Ms. Dillon’s health had deteriorated to the extent that she was unable to continue working and, on October 9, 1946, her brilliant career ended and the theatre closed.
In 1949, New York attorney A. L. Sainer assumed responsibility for Deertrees and reopened the theatre under the management of his brother-in-law, actor/director Robert Harris
. Mr. Harris ran Deertrees as an Equity repertory company, assembling casts from Broadway and Hollywood that included Peggy Allenby
, Helene Reynolds, Margot Stevenson
, Ferdi Hoffman, and William Tregoe. The internationally recognized designer Richardson Harrison Senie was appointed Scenic Artist and Cy Roossin, the Production Manager. The company presented mostly light comedies and farces such as, "For Love or Money" and "Petticoat Fever" but the schedule also included dramatic productions of "The Heiress
", "The Glass Menagerie
", and "Payment Deferred
". In 1951, Harris returned to Hollywood and, once again, the theatre went dark.
In August 1953, The Boothbay Playhouse Corporation, headed by Sherwood Keith, purchased the theater. As a step toward stimulating local theatres and decentralizing the American Theater from New York, Keith introduced a policy of utilizing community theatre
groups. For two years, Mr. Keith presented outstanding repertory companies from throughout New England but the second season, after a gala opening night starring Mr. Keith and his wife in "The Four-Poster", did not meet with great success and in 1956 he sold the theatre to Mrs. Aya Sholley.
Mrs. Sholley appointed Emily Perry Bishop as resident director and brought in a small resident stock company to present a diverse program of dramas and matinees for children. However, by 1959, falling attendance and increased expenses had taken their toll, and in 1960 and 1961, the theatre failed to open.
In 1962, Deertrees Theatre once again took a premiere place on the Summer Theater circuit. Under new management the theatre pursued a policy of resident players, as well as guest stars, most of whom were drawn from television. Ann B. "Schultzy" Davis
opened the season in "Everybody Loves Opal" while Shirley Knight
, rock idol Fabian
, Allen Case
, and John Saxon
were some of the other luminaries making appearances. However, the enthusiasm did not last, the theatre closed at the end of that year, and it did not re-open for two years.
In 1965, Mrs. Sholley presented her alma mater, Boston's Emerson College
, with the deed to Deertrees. Under the direction of Dr. Michael E. Rutenberg the theatre was operated as part of the Emerson College Center for the Performing Arts, a division of the College set up for the purpose of allowing students the opportunity to operate a summer theatre as well as take the usual academic courses. Among the students associated with Deertrees during these years were Paul Kreppel
, Andrea Martin
, and Ron McClartney. Emerson continued the project through 1969 when it sold the property to a former student, David Maturi.
Maturi and his Coventry Theatrical Community continued to use Emerson students for cast and technical crew and produced programs of comedies and musical comedies, including "The Odd Couple
", "Mame", "Cabaret
", and "Sweet Charity
", the last starring Cecilia Hart
. However, once again failing attendance and increased expenses caused the theatre to close in 1971.
After three years of being closed, a former student of Enrica Clay Dillon, Judith Ritter purchased the theatre. The 1975 season opened with a resident opera company performing Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti
- not coincidentally, the last opera Enrica Clay Dillon produced before her death - and for the next three years, the theatre rotated between theatrical and operatic programs with "Twilight Pop Concerts" held on Sundays. In 1977, the Maine Opera Association made Deertrees its official home.
In 1979, Frank Best leased the theatre from the Ritters and formed the Deertrees Performing Arts Festival as a non-profit corporation. However, his plans for three productions by the Maine Opera Guild, a professional theatre company, and a series of concerts ranging from bluegrass to ragtime failed to materialize and the theatre closed.
By the mid-1980s, the theatre had been abandoned and considered a relic from a bygone era. The town of Harrison foreclosed on the property and there was consideration of burning the building as an exercise for the local fire department. Fortunately, a group of concerned citizens led by Dr. Al Mills undertook the rescue of the theatre and formed the Deertrees Foundation to restore the building and grounds. In 1990, the theatre once again opened.
Deertrees Theatre is currently open each year from late June until early September and presents an eclectic mix of legitimate theatre, opera, music of all genres, comedy, and children programs.
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
and cultural center located in Harrison
Harrison, Maine
Harrison is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,315 at the 2000 census. A historic resort area, Harrison straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
was founded by the distinguished opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
director and singing coach Enrica Clay Dillon
Enrica Clay Dillon
Enrica Clay Dillon was an American opera singer, opera director, and voice teacher.-Life and career:Born in Denver, Colorado, Dillon was the daughter of Judge Henry Clay Dillon and Florence H. Dillon...
in 1936 and is now owned and operated by the non profit Deertrees Foundation. As home to the Deertrees Theatre Festival, the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival, the Children's Wednesday Series, the BackStage Gallery, and the Salt Lick Cafe, Deertrees is one of the most active summer theatres
Summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre is any theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes...
in the Northeast. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and the Maine Register of Historic Places, it is sanctioned by the Actors' Equity Association
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
as "a small professional house."
The Theatre
Designed in the Adirondack styleAdirondack Architecture
Adirondack Architecture refers to the rugged architectural style generally associated with the Great Camps within the Adirondack Mountains area in New York. The builders of these camps used native building materials and sited their buildings within an irregular wooded landscape...
by Harrison G. Wiseman and built by George Locke of Bridgton, the theatre was constructed of rose hemlock harvested on the property. The proscenium arch was made from whole tree trunks and the beams, doors, trim, and light fixtures were all handcarved. The building was designed so the entire auditorium with its pitched floor could be detached from the stage end and moved forward allowing an extra section with more seating inserted. It boasted a thirty-member orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
, stage dimensions identical to the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...
, and the best technical equipment of any theatre outside of New York. Two large barn doors located behind the stage could be opened for an authentic forest backdrop. Whether by chance or design, the theatre also had near perfect acoustics. More than sixty years after the theatre first opened, Christopher Hyde, classical music critic for the Maine Sunday Telegram, theorized that the tight sheathing of rough hemlock and pre-stressed posts and beams created the effect of a large stringed instrument able to transmit vibrations efficiently without echoes or reverberation.
History
The theatre’s gala opening on August 15, 1936 featured a reading from Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac
Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...
by the classical actor, Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden is the artist name of Walter Hampden Dougherty was a U.S. actor and theatre manager. He was the younger brother of the American painter Paul Dougherty ....
. Only two more productions were presented that summer but the following season Deertrees became a fixture on the straw hat circuit
Summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre is any theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes...
by presenting four different plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
and a musical comedy with a cast of professional actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s in repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
under the direction of Ms. Dillon. However, in 1938 the theatre failed to open and when Deertrees reopened in the summer of 1939 it was under the auspices of the noted Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
producer Bela Blau
Advertising "A New Play - A New Broadway A Star Every Week." Blau imported an entire Broadway cast from New York City every week including such stars as Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
, Talullah Bankhead, Edward Everett Horton
Edward Everett Horton
Edward Everett Horton was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. He is especially known for his work in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isabella...
, Dame Mae Whittey, and Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
. A young David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
was a jack-of-all-trades apprentice and credited on several playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
s as being the associate producer and the then unpublished Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff was an American writer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is best known as the author of the book 84, Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a stage play, , and film of the same name.- Career :...
worked in the Box Office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
. Local talent augmented smaller roles as the need arose. In addition to the theatre, Blau operated a school for theatrical designers
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
headed by Raoul Pene duBois.
Following the death of Bela Blau in the autumn of 1940, Ms Dillon returned to her first love, opera. She inaugurated The Deertrees Opera Company with the young Edwin McArthur
Edwin McArthur
Edwin McArthur was a celebrated American classical music conductor, pianist and accompanist. From 1935 until her retirement in 1955 he was the usual accompanist of the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad....
(later replaced by Karl Kritz
Karl Kritz
Karl Kritz was an Austrian conductor. Born in Vienna, he sang in the Vienna Boys Choir as a child. He studied with Franz Schmidt at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. After graduating, he pursued further studies in conducting in Nuremberg and Berlin...
) as musical director and George Wells as scenic and lighting designer. The company consisted of some 12 to 15 young singers including Astrid Varnay
Astrid Varnay
Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...
, Phila Tharpe, and Elizabeth Caron and was a forerunner to the great opera-training programs to come to America some fifty years later. The Deertrees Opera Company continued into the summer of 1942 but with the United States in the war, after a Red Cross/U.S.O Benefit concert on August 31, the theatre went dark. In 1946, Ms. Dillon announced the re-opening of Deertrees Theatre for a "Summer Festival of Opera and Drama;" however, by mid-summer Ms. Dillon’s health had deteriorated to the extent that she was unable to continue working and, on October 9, 1946, her brilliant career ended and the theatre closed.
In 1949, New York attorney A. L. Sainer assumed responsibility for Deertrees and reopened the theatre under the management of his brother-in-law, actor/director Robert Harris
Robert H. Harris
Robert H. Harris was an American character actor born in New York City, New York.-Career:...
. Mr. Harris ran Deertrees as an Equity repertory company, assembling casts from Broadway and Hollywood that included Peggy Allenby
Peggy Allenby
Peggy Allenby was an American silent film actress who continued as performer in television. She appeared in silent films, including The Man Who Came Back .-Career:...
, Helene Reynolds, Margot Stevenson
Margot Stevenson
Margot Stevenson was an American stage and radio actress, known for her role as Margo Lane in the radio adaptation of "The Shadow", opposite Orson Welles in 1938.Stevenson was born in Manhattan on February 8, 1912...
, Ferdi Hoffman, and William Tregoe. The internationally recognized designer Richardson Harrison Senie was appointed Scenic Artist and Cy Roossin, the Production Manager. The company presented mostly light comedies and farces such as, "For Love or Money" and "Petticoat Fever" but the schedule also included dramatic productions of "The Heiress
The Heiress
The Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...
", "The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
", and "Payment Deferred
Payment Deferred
Payment Deferred is a crime novel by C.S. Forester, first published in 1926.William Marble is a bank clerk living in south London, desperately worried about money and unable to control his wife Annie's spending. One evening without warning they are visited by his recently orphaned and very rich...
". In 1951, Harris returned to Hollywood and, once again, the theatre went dark.
In August 1953, The Boothbay Playhouse Corporation, headed by Sherwood Keith, purchased the theater. As a step toward stimulating local theatres and decentralizing the American Theater from New York, Keith introduced a policy of utilizing community theatre
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
groups. For two years, Mr. Keith presented outstanding repertory companies from throughout New England but the second season, after a gala opening night starring Mr. Keith and his wife in "The Four-Poster", did not meet with great success and in 1956 he sold the theatre to Mrs. Aya Sholley.
Mrs. Sholley appointed Emily Perry Bishop as resident director and brought in a small resident stock company to present a diverse program of dramas and matinees for children. However, by 1959, falling attendance and increased expenses had taken their toll, and in 1960 and 1961, the theatre failed to open.
In 1962, Deertrees Theatre once again took a premiere place on the Summer Theater circuit. Under new management the theatre pursued a policy of resident players, as well as guest stars, most of whom were drawn from television. Ann B. "Schultzy" Davis
Ann B. Davis
Ann Bradford Davis is an American television actress.Davis achieved prominence for her role in The Bob Cummings Show for which she twice won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series...
opened the season in "Everybody Loves Opal" while Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
, rock idol Fabian
Fabian
-People:*Fabian Månsson, , Swedish socialist*Fabian , , 1950s American teen idol and singer*Fabian Bachrach, an American photographer*Fabian Cancellara, , Swiss professional road cyclist...
, Allen Case
Allen Case
Allen Case was an American television actor most noted for the lead role of Deputy Clay McCord in NBC's The Deputy opposite series regular Henry Fonda...
, and John Saxon
John Saxon (actor)
John Saxon is an American actor who has worked on over 200 projects during the span of sixty years. Saxon is most known for his work in horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Black Christmas, both of which feature Saxon as a policeman in search of the killer...
were some of the other luminaries making appearances. However, the enthusiasm did not last, the theatre closed at the end of that year, and it did not re-open for two years.
In 1965, Mrs. Sholley presented her alma mater, Boston's Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, with the deed to Deertrees. Under the direction of Dr. Michael E. Rutenberg the theatre was operated as part of the Emerson College Center for the Performing Arts, a division of the College set up for the purpose of allowing students the opportunity to operate a summer theatre as well as take the usual academic courses. Among the students associated with Deertrees during these years were Paul Kreppel
Paul Kreppel
Paul Kreppel is an actor, producer, director. On television, he was best known as the pianist, Sonny Mann in the show, It's a Living. In his work as theater director- producer-creator, he received the 2007 Tony Award for Jay Johnson: The Two and Only.-Early Theater Career:Kreppel was born in...
, Andrea Martin
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
, and Ron McClartney. Emerson continued the project through 1969 when it sold the property to a former student, David Maturi.
Maturi and his Coventry Theatrical Community continued to use Emerson students for cast and technical crew and produced programs of comedies and musical comedies, including "The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
", "Mame", "Cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
", and "Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
", the last starring Cecilia Hart
Cecilia Hart
Cecilia Hart, born in Cheyenne, Wyoming February 19, 1948, is a television and stage actress married to actor James Earl Jones with whom she has one child, Flynn Earl Jones. Hart costarred with Jones in the short-lived 1979-80 CBS police drama Paris. She was formerly married to actor Bruce Weitz...
. However, once again failing attendance and increased expenses caused the theatre to close in 1971.
After three years of being closed, a former student of Enrica Clay Dillon, Judith Ritter purchased the theatre. The 1975 season opened with a resident opera company performing Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti
Cosi Fan Tutti
Cosi Fan Tutti is a novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the fifth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.Under a cloud again, Zen thinks he has found himself a backwater sinecure in Naples, where he can coast towards retirement...
- not coincidentally, the last opera Enrica Clay Dillon produced before her death - and for the next three years, the theatre rotated between theatrical and operatic programs with "Twilight Pop Concerts" held on Sundays. In 1977, the Maine Opera Association made Deertrees its official home.
In 1979, Frank Best leased the theatre from the Ritters and formed the Deertrees Performing Arts Festival as a non-profit corporation. However, his plans for three productions by the Maine Opera Guild, a professional theatre company, and a series of concerts ranging from bluegrass to ragtime failed to materialize and the theatre closed.
By the mid-1980s, the theatre had been abandoned and considered a relic from a bygone era. The town of Harrison foreclosed on the property and there was consideration of burning the building as an exercise for the local fire department. Fortunately, a group of concerned citizens led by Dr. Al Mills undertook the rescue of the theatre and formed the Deertrees Foundation to restore the building and grounds. In 1990, the theatre once again opened.
Mission and Current Operations
The mission of Deertrees Theatre is to provide a diverse selection of quality cultural opportunities and to present entertainment of the highest professional standard at affordable prices and in a manner that upholds the illustrious tradition of this theatre.Deertrees Theatre is currently open each year from late June until early September and presents an eclectic mix of legitimate theatre, opera, music of all genres, comedy, and children programs.
Further reading
- Hanff, Heleene. Underfoot in Showbusiness. New York: Harper, 1961. ISBN 0708821251
- Harrison Historical Society. Bicentennial History of Harrison, Maine, 1905-2005. Penobscot: Penobscot, 2005. ISBN 0897257154